Jay Adams wife Tracy Adams was with her husband when he died in Mexico on Thursday.
Jay and Tracy were married on April 16, 2011, reported Juice Magazine. The wedding service was performed poolside by Christian Hosoi and friends at the Etneis skatepark in Lake, Forest California.
TMZ reported on Friday, citing sources, that Jay died of a heart attack while on a surfing holiday in Mexico with his wife.
They had been there about three months. Adams posted numerous photos to his Instagram account while there, mostly of the water, beach, and him and others surfing.
The 53-year-old hadn’t been allowed to leave the U.S. for about 20 years so he and Tracy were taking advantage of the opportunity.
Entrepreneur and former skateboarder and surfer Stacy Peralta later confirmed the news.
Jay used to be married to Alisha Adams, with whom he had a daughter, Venice.
Jay also had a son, Seven, from former girlfriend Samantha Balgioni.
Adams never spoke to press much in general and didn’t say much about his kids, especially recently.
He did tell the West Side People Mag that after getting out of prison most recently--he had been in and out for many years--he started speaking with young kids at local schools and skateboarding events about the poor choices he made as a young man.
“Those were the states of youth,” he says. “The 70s and 80s were a different time. With punk rock there was a lot of violence and being young, drinking alcohol and making bad choices. Now I want to encourage people not to go down the same road I went down.”
Dennis Martinez, a longtime friend who was a rival competitive skateboarder from San Diego, and at the time of the interview was leading a group of former gang-members and prisoners in which Jay participated speaking at local schools, said that Adams had “come such a long way.”
“Jay is a character, period. Knowing these guys it was really an image that they built. He’s always been the same. At any given time Jay would do something so off the wall it would blow your mind. When you’re pioneers and put your hard work into something, you can’t take that away from guys like us. The youngsters, they understand that. Skateboarding wouldn’t be where it is today.”
As for the hit movie Lords of Dogtown, Adams said they “took an R-rated life and made it PG-13.” But they did get the part about Adams and his friends riding in empty swimming pools right--the group would sometimes rent an airplane to scout new pools. Then came the Venice Skate Park.
“We had a plywood ramp against the wall right here,” Adams recalled. “I can remember 50 guys riding it and 100 guys watching. We pushed the limits we could on that terrain. I didn’t think it would get to where it is today, but it’s not too unimaginable. I’m just glad I got to be involved during the time period that I did. Things were new and we got to be among the first to do a lot of this stuff.”
Friends Read Free